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The second incident took place in Dutchess County on Tuesday, March 22 when a community member reported another threat of school violence against Poughkeepsie High School and Poughkeepsie Middle School to City of Poughkeepsie police, said Irwin Goldberg, spokesman for the school district.
An investigation led to the arrest of a 15-year-old girl who was charged with making a terroristic threat and was issued an appearance ticket for Dutchess County Family Court and released to her parents, Goldberg said.
The 15-year-old is believed to also be responsible for the threat posted on social media Sunday, March, 20, he added,
This arrest follows the earlier identification Tuesday, March 22, of an 11-year-old City of Poughkeepsie girl who made a separate threat against district schools Tuesday.
“With the identification of the young lady who is alleged to have made the social media threats, the entire school community is now able to focus on rebuilding the culture and climate of both Poughkeepsie Middle School and Poughkeepsie High School,” Superintendent Dr. Eric Jay Rosser said.
New Gaggle System: Also on Tuesday, the district’s Gaggle notification system was activated, providing school administrators with another way to become aware of potential issues before they happen through the monitoring and screening of student communications via district platforms.
"Already, multiple alerts have come in that have been flagged for school administration intervention," Goldberg said,
For violations, the message will be blocked and the student automatically notified that it is not appropriate. Multiple violations will trigger an alert to staff.
If there is a more serious, legitimate issue, school and/or district personnel are alerted via email, if it is a more serious threat with a plan or time or location, phone calls are made, Goldberg said.
Return to in-person learning: Now that the threats have been identified, students and staff will return to in-person learning at both schools on Thursday, March 24, Goldberg said.
"It is our hope that students and parents realize the seriousness of using social media as a weapon," Goldberg said.
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